Life

Baby Get Back: Why Strong Mamas Make Better Triathletes

Our monthly columnist talks a different kind of iron as she prepares for a summer start line.

by Megan Evoe

When I began my freshman year of college at Illinois State University, I knew being a division I athlete would be harder work than both club and high school soccer combined. Not only did we endure intense practices every day, but a few times a week after practice, we hit the weight room with our strength and conditioning coaches.

Our team was very lucky to be paired with two coaches, both with military backgrounds, who not only pushed us through exhausting workouts using weights, plyo exercises, and some gut-wrenching core work, but who explained the benefits of gym work. I remember immediately seeing and feeling a difference in my strength, endurance level, and overall muscle mass. I loved the burning sensation of the lactic acid churning through my body after one of their mind-numbing workouts.

Since my college days, I have kept a regular weight training regime while marathon training, but hitting the gym became my go-to form of exercise throughout both of my pregnancies. No matter what size baby bump I was lugging around, I could always find weighted exercises that worked for my body. Moreover, all that lifting helped keep excessive baby weight off.

"A strong, balanced, and energetic woman who maintains fitness and strength during pregnancy is one that relays her zest and positive energy to her child."

Now that I am training for IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder, I definitely want to keep up with a gym routine. I have seen how much it helped my husband, Pat, throughout his career as a professional triathlete. The kinds of exercises he did were a little different than the style of weight programs I learned in college, so I thought I would contact the trainer he used here in Boulder to give me some more triathlete-specific workouts.

Amy Quiron is known as "the trainer to the stars" here in Boulder, working with Julie Dibens’ crew of athletes such as Tim Don, Rachel Joyce, Dede Griesbauer, and Emma-Kate Lidbury, to name a few. Amy also walks the walk, herself and IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship qualifier and a consistent, top performer in her age-group. Years ago, she joined Rally Sport owner and IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship athlete, Erin Carson, who developed her own style of coaching called ECFIT. With Amy’s input, they have constructed a program that helps athletes really maximize their potential.

Quiron and Carson coach endurance athletes of all kinds, from cyclists and triathletes to runners. "I go through phases with my athletes, depending on where they are in their training and racing," says Quiron. "Throughout their season we build them up to certain races and go through strength, mobility, and stability as well as agility and power as we get closer to their races."

I know that if I'm going to keep up my strength through these next six months of training, I need exercises that are specifically geared towards improving my swim, bike, and run. I had Quiron put me through a typical workout for a triathlete, and not only did I feel like I got a great workout, but felt stretched out and loosened up in a good way. I was surprised when we started and the warm-up was less cardio and more movement-based exercises, all which made me shake from my head to toes. My body was already working hard from the get-go.

"We focus more on the mobility side of things. We’re always looking at movement first," Quirion says. Before anybody starts on their program, she takes them through a series of movements such as opening up the hips and activating the posterior chain that becomes tired when triathletes sit on a bike for a long period of time. "That opening sequence usually dictates what we do with [the athlete] from there."

The ECFIT team focuses on mobility, activation, strength, and agility/power. In Quirion's words: "Mobility would be quality movement, like making sure that the hips, ankles, and thoracic spine are all moving really well; activation would be engaging the glutes, core, and posterior chain activation, which is the whole backside of the body; for strength, we do more pulling than pushing because athletes are constantly in a forward, flexed position and we negate that by doing more pushing; for agility and power, we use exercise balls, agility ladders, and plyos, like box jumps for explosive work."

I'm not alone when it comes to post-baby weights. Professional triathlete and multiple-time IRONMAN champion Meredith Kessler, who gave birth to her son M.A.K. at the end of 2017, is back in the gym with her trainer Kate Ligler. Kessler is well aware of the significant effect weight and gym work has on women after nine months of pregnancy.

"Weight training is more important than ever when trying to navigate back to form," Kessler says. "Kate and I have been meticulous in our approach to working the body back into shape: Concentration on the core, hips, pelvic floor, balance, and activation are more important than ever as that area in particular has gone through tremendous trauma. A strong core specifically compliments your other training including running, cycling, swimming, and recovery.”

After my warm-up, Quiron takes me through some compound movements, like a dead row on one leg to a shoulder press. The extra weight I'm still carrying in my hips seems to tip me over like Humpty Dumpty the first few times, but eventually, I find my groove and my confidence. Performing these exercises while having to balance helps activate my core, which was burning the next morning when I woke up!

I still feel like a spring chicken, but sometimes my body reminds me that I'm not 21 anymore. My joints feel wonky from having a baby a few months ago, and there are days I feel like Pinocchio as I wait for one of my legs to unhinge from the socket. But thanks to this new program, I have hope that my body will be up to the task as I start to increase my training time and mileage.

Quiron is quick to remind me all of the benefits strength training has on a woman’s body.

"Whether you're an athlete or not, the benefits are huge in helping prevent injury, but also with bone density, growth hormones, and the responses we have. Triathletes are such linear athletes and constantly moving forward, so we have to couple that with exercises that help keep us balanced.”

Kessler agrees, particularly when it comes to keeping up with weights during pregnancy. She says the mindset she had pre-pregnancy is the same mindset that she had both during and after: "Stamina. Fortitude. Gumption. Gusto."

"Strength is a lifestyle," she adds. "One that doesn't need to be completely compromised in pregnancy but instead needs to continue to soar and prosper. A strong, balanced, and energetic woman who maintains fitness and strength during pregnancy is one that relays her zest and positive energy to her child."

Not only were the exercises I did new and difficult, but it made me excited to have another area of focus to improve my overall triathlon training. The best thing about the program is that I can do the workout from home while my kiddos nap. Balancing the circus at our house with two little ones isn't always easy, but having an area to work out at home means I'll have fewer excuses not to fit it into my day.

Meredith Kessler's "champion mom" strength routine

"It wasn't until I started a proper strength program that I began to see the multitude of benefits it had on my racing. This was around eight years ago, and marquee time in the weight room has never waned—even through and after my pregnancy. It was likely a sight seeing an eight-months pregnant woman in the weight room balancing on a half BOSU ball!"

Suitable for pre, post, and during pregnancy. Adjust accordingly to your level of comfort and fitness, and always check with your doctor before starting.